First-ever women's tournament off to a good start

One of the main highlights of the 80th Blue Stars/FIFA Youth Cup is the inaugural hosting of a women’s tournament. Valencia, Inter Milan, FC Zurich, Grasshoppers, Young Boys and Blue Stars are the six U-19 teams from Switzerland and abroad, who are battling it out to be the maiden winners of the tournament, and who provided fans with plenty of exciting football on the opening day.

Group A saw FC Zurich on top form on Wednesday, starting the tournament with an easy victory. In recent years, Zurich have been the leading lights of women’s football in Switzerland. The main women’s team achieved four doubles between 2012 and 2016, while the club's U-21 side are near the top of National League B (the second tier of Swiss women’s football). Their main competition for a final spot are Spanish representatives Valencia, who also won their opening game. The last match of the group stage saw the two teams battle it out, with Zurich edging a 2-1 victory to finish top of the table.

Things were a lot closer in Group B. The opening match saw Inter Milan and BSC Young Boys finish goalless, and the same result was what the fans got in the second game between Young Boys and Grasshoppers. The semi-final spots and a chance to keep their hopes of silverware alive came down to the third match at the end of the day, with Grasshoppers defeating Inter Milan 1-0, courtesy of a Claudia Budimir strike. Four points gave the Hoppers top spot, ahead of Young Boys and Inter Milan.